The 2011-2012 will be the 4^th season under Head Coach Tyson Thivierge.  Coach Thivierge returns 17 wrestlers from the 2010-2011 squad and added 12 more talented young men last recruiting season.  Of the 12 recruits, five of them have won multiple State Championships, including Havre’s Duell Stadel, Harlem’s Trent Jones, Chinooks Willy Miller and Ronan’s Toby Cheff.  The 2010-11 season was capped off with a 2^nd place team finish at the Western National Qualifying Tournament, and a 10^th place finish at the NAIA National Championships.  Coach Thivierge’s squad qualified 10 wrestlers and brought home 3 NAIA All-Americans and an Academic All-American in senior Tay Todd.  This includes at 133 Cameron Neiss (7^th), at 285 Rudy Schaffroth (5^th), and 184 National Champion in Evan Hinebauch with an epic overtime thriller against longtime rival Michael French of UGF. 

Before coming back to MSU-Northern, Thivierge spent some years moving around the country from Tennessee, Washington and Nevada.  In Tennessee, Thivierge served as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before moving to Clarkston, WA where he assisted his high school coach for two seasons.  In 2006 Coach Thivierge got his first crack at a Head Coaching position at Carson High School, in Carson City, NV.  Thivierge served as Head Coach for two seasons before he was hired at his alma mater MSU-Northern.

Coach Thivierge was one of many talented student-athletes under then coach David Ray.  He was the 2^nd ever 4-time NAIA All-American (1^st, 3^rd, 2^nd, 3^rd) for MSU-Northern, with his career being capped off in 2002 with an NAIA National Championship of his own at 184lbs, as well as being named the Outstanding Wrestler of the 2002 NAIA National Championships.  During his senior season, he placed 4^th in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Open and 2^nd at the prestigious Midlands Championships.  Coach Thivierge was part of two National Championship teams in 1999 and 2000 and graduated from MSU-Northern in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education.

Coach Thivierge is the proud father of Northerns two biggest fans Orion and Marlee Thivierge.  His loving wife of 8 years, Stephanie, is also a 2003 Northern graduate and is the Branch Manager at US Bank.

Austin is returning to Northern to serve as an assistant coach for the 2011-2012 season.  Austin is a 2009 All-American (7^th) under Coach Thivierge.  Austin will play a big role in developing the middle weight classes this season. 

Abel Valdez  

 Assistant Coach

2nd year

Coach Valdez returns to the Lights wrestling program after coaching at the high school level as both an assistant and head coach for the past 9 years in Oregon.  Coach Valdez was a 2-time NAIA All-American under former Lights coach David Ray, earning 4^th place finish in 2000 & 3^rd place finish in 2001.  Abel also earned Academic All-American honors in 2000 and was part of the National Championship team that season.  Coach Valdez was also one of Northern’s Student Excellence recipients in 2001.  Before joining the Lights team, Coach Valdez transferred from Clackamas Community College in Oregon where he earned All-American honors in 1999 placing 6^th at the NJCAA National Championships.  During his four years of college competition, Coach Valdez was also a 4-time regional finalist, coming away with two regional championships.

Coach Valdez received his undergraduate degree from MSU-Northern in Community Services and is currently working towards a graduate degree in Counselor Education at MSU-Northern.  Abel has two children, Leandra and Dominic, and is married to Amanda Valdez, whom currently is employed with the Havre School District.